They finally beat and it was a blockbuster. No buying of business here. Margins were great. Here is the transcript of the conference call.
"We are pleased to report record net revenue and record Adjusted EBITDA during the third quarter of 2010. These milestones are driven by continued progress in expanding our mass market gaming volumes and by further success in our already robust VIP business, along with a favorable rolling chip hold percentage in the third quarter of 2010."
- Lawrence Ho, Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Melco Crown Entertainment
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE RELEASE
- CoD: Net revenues of $504MM and Adjusted EBITDA of $115MM
- "Year-over-year improvements in both net revenue and Adjusted EBITDA were driven by increased rolling chip volume, an improved mass market win rate, and higher mass market table games drop"
- Hold was 3.4%
- Altira: Net revenue of $186.8MM and Adjusted EBITDA of $28.8MM
- Hold was 2.7%
CONF CALL NOTES
- Feel like the operating team has begun to gel and that they can now start producing more consistent results
- They are gaining market share
- VIP benefited from 3 new junket rooms at CoD
- The House of Dancing Water show is sold out through the end of the month; HDW is helping drive increased visitation to the property.
- Mass market drop per day increased 35% YoY
- The improvement in their Mass market hold is sustainable as they are providing a better guest experience and people are staying and playing longer
- Have 450,000 members in their database and hope to hit 500,000 by year end
- Organizational restructuring that they announced on September 1st is already helping them improve results
- Will continue to look to improve margins as their mix of Mass increases
- 4th quarter is off to a good start with record business levels in October
- Non-operating 4Q guidance
- $84MM of D&A
- Interest expense: $29MM
- No pre-opening or capitalized interest
Q&A
- 2012/early 2013 Ferry Terminal Pac On opening
- No Singapore impact
- Focus over next 12 months is on improving existing operations
- They are interested in Macau Studio City if it ever opens - their management contract still stands
- They are also quietly looking at other opportunities in Asia
- CoD increasing VIP rooms. They have some extension plans on the second floors. Hopefully they will add another 2-3 junket operators in by Chinese New Year.
- More likely than not, they will only have a hotel, not an "apartment hotel." Once their occupancy and ADR ramps up, they can decide whether to build the additional tower on the land they have.
- EBITDA normalized for 2.85% would have been just north of $100MM
- House of Dancing Water cost is just over $100,000/day
- FCF in the Q was just over $100MM
- They believe that the Galaxy opening will move the center of gravity in Macau to Cotai and will be good for them
- Claim that premium direct volume was still in the 20% range, but we believe it was around 13% based on our proprietary database
- No change in the junket commission environment for them
- CoD - 50% turnover based commission, at Altira - the majority are on a turnover basis (ie 1.25% vs. Rev Share)
- 165 VIP tables and 240 Mass tables at CoD
- Want to cross market Altira and CoD. They will try to have some premium direct at Altira
- I also see a small increase of direct VIP play at Altira this Q to 2%
- Have done some work on Japan and Taiwan and are interested.
- There are Taiwanese elections coming up - so anything that happens on the islands would occur after that
